In the south of the municipality are the headwaters of the Río Agüera, whose valley includes altitudes of more than 400 metres. The municipality is crossed from west to east by the Santander-Bilbao railway line operated by FEVE.

The region was devastated in the Carlist battles of 1875; as a result, few old buildings survive.[3] One notable older building is the Church of Santa María, its interior in ruins due to the 1875 fighting and later abandonment.[4]

Although the leading political party in municipal elections in recent years has been the Regionalist Party of Cantabria, in decades past Valle de Villaverde (then Villaverde de Trucíos) was more inclined to integrate itself into the surrounding province of Biscay. Piedad González, mayor of Villaverde de Trucíos beginning in May 1983,[6] originally as a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party[7] and later as an independent socialist, was described by El País in 1987 as an "impenitent defender of integration into Biscay."[8]

The following tables show the results of the 2003 and 2007 municipal elections.[9]